Lading strap anchor



F. P. ADLER LADING STRAP ANCHOR Oct. 14, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Invenilor r'anklz'n P/Id er u$km m Ai i'or'n ey Filed Nov. 28. 1952 UnitedStates Patent LADING STRAP ANCHOR Franklin P. Adler, Michigan City,Ind., assignor to Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company, Chicago,111., a corporation of Delaware Application November 28, 1952, SerialNo. 323,059

1 Claim. (Cl. 105-369) This invention relates to railway freight carsand is primarily concerned with a lading strap anchor for a railway boxcar.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a structurally novellading strap anchor to prevent the lading strap from getting caught onthe means securing the anchor to the wall of the car when the ladingstrap is threaded through the anchor.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a railway freight carhaving a wall having a framing element, a base plate positioned againstthe element and provided with a pair of spaced slots and a base platesection between the slots having a gerater thickness than adjacentportions of the base plate, a member on the base plate spaced from saidsection, and welds in the slots securing the base plate to the framingelement, a lading strap being adapted to be threaded around the memberand the greater thickness of the section being adapted to prevent thestrap from getting caught on the welds while being threaded around themember.

An important object of the invention is to provide in a railway freightcar having a wall, a base plate secured to the wall and a member on thebase plate, each side of the member being in the shape of an are havinga radius of one-half to two times the effective length of the member, alading strap being adapted to be threaded around the member and thearc-shaped sides on the member being adapted to cause the stress on thestrap to be directed toward the center thereof.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide in a railwayfreight car having a side wall having an outside sheathing and a liningprovided with an opening therein and a side post disposed between thesheathing and the lining having a flange extending across the opening, abase plate positioned in the opening against the flange and providedwith a recess and a pair of spaced parallel slots, with a base platesection formed between the slots having a greater thickness thanadjacent portions of the base plate and a member extending across therecess, each side of the member being in the shape of an are having aradius of one-half to two times the effective length of the member andwelds in the slots securing the base plate to the flange of the post, alading strap being adapted to be threaded through the recess and aroundthe member and the greater thickness of the section being adapted toprevent the end of the strap from getting caught on the welds while thestrap is being threaded through the anchor and the, arc-shaped sides onthe member being adapted tocause the stress on the strap to be directedtoward the center thereof.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are attained by theconstruction and arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein- Fig. 1 is an interior side elevational view of a portion of aside wall of a railway box car showing a plurality of lading strapanchors of the present invention installed thereon;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of one of 2,855,866 PatentedOct. 14, 1958 the lading strap anchors shown installed in the side wallof the car;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig.1; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of Fig.l.

The invention proposes a new type lading strap anchor arrangement for arailway freight car. An opening is provided in the side wall liningexposing the flange of the side post. A base plate is positioned in theopening against the flange of the post and is provided with a recess anda pair of spaced parallel slots with a plate section between them ofgreater thickness than the adjacent portions of the base plate. A memberextends across the recess, and each side of this member is in the shapeof an are having a radius of one-half to two times the elfective lengthof the member. Welds fill the slots and these Welds secure the baseplate to the flange of the post. A lading strap is adapted to bethreaded through the recess and around the member. The greater thicknessof the section prevents the lading strap from getting caught on thewelds while the strap is being threaded through the anchor, and thearc-shaped sides on the member cause the stress on the strap to bedirected toward the center thereof.

In the drawings, 10 generally designates a railway freight car orrailway box can having side sills 11, a floor 12 positioned upon theside sills, side walls 13, side plates 14, and a roof 15 secured to theside plates. Each side wall 13 has an outside sheathing 16 secured toits respective side sill 11 and to its respective side plate 14 and alining 17 spaced from the sheathing and provided with a plurality ofvertically spaced openings 18 therein and a plurality of horizontallyspaced framing elements or Z-shaped side posts 19 disposed between thesheathing and the lining and each having one flange 20 secured to thesheathing and having the other flange 21 extending across the openings.Each post 19 has a nailer 22 secured thereto by a plurality ofvertically spaced bolts 23 extending through the nailer and the web ofthe post and having nuts 24 on their free ends. The lining 17 is made upof the usual horizontally disposed tongue and groove boards 25 which arenailed to the nailers 22.

A circular base plate 26 is positioned in each opening 18 in the lining17 against the flange 21 of the post 19. It will be noted that theopening 18 in the lining is countersunk and base plate 26 iscorrespondingly shaped.

The base plate 26 has a horizontally extending recess 27 therein and isprovided with a pair of opposed U-shaped seats 28 on opposite sides ofthe recess. A pair of spaced parallel slots 29 are located in the bottomof the recess 27 and a section 30 of the base plate is disposed betweenthem. One bounding wall 31 of 'one slot 29 is formed by one side of thesection 30, and one bounding wall 32 of the other slot 29 is formed bythe other side of the section. The section 30 has a greater thicknessthan the other bounding wall 33 of said one slot and has a greaterthickness than the other bounding wall 34 of the other slot, as bestshown in Fig. 3.

A flat member 35 extends across the recess 27 in the base plate 26 andhas its ends positioned in the seats 28 and the ends of the memberterminate at locations spaced from the walls of the seats. A weld 36extends around each rounded end of the member 35, and this weld is incontact with the bottom of the respective seat 28 and fills the spacebetween the respective end of the member and the wall of the respectiveseat. Each side of the member 35 is in the shape of an are having aradius R, and this radius has a center C located on a horizontal axisthrough the center of the base plate 26, and the dimension of the radiusmay be from one-half to two times the eflective length L of the member35, all as best shown in Fig. 2. The efiective length L of the member 35is that part of the member which a lading strap 37 can actually comeinto contact with, or bear against, or encircle when the lading strap isthreaded around the memher and is pulled taut. The arc-shaped sides onthe member 35 cause the stress on the lading strap 37 to be directedtoward the center thereof.

Welds 3S fill the slots 29 and come into contact With the flange 21'ofthe post 19, thus securing the base plate 26 to the post. The ladingstrap 37 is adapted to be threaded through the recess 27 and around themember 35. The greater thickness of the section 31) is adapted toprevent the end of the lading strap 37 from getting caught on the welds38 while the lading strap is being threaded through the recess andaround the member, as indicated by the broken line illustration in Fig.3.

The mode of installing an anchor on the side wall of a car is asfollows: First, the entire side wall 13 including the lining 17 is puton the car. That is, the car can be completely constructed before theanchor is installed in the side wall 13. The member 35 is welded to thebase plate 26 to form an assembled anchor ready to be installed in thecar. The countersunk openings 18 are made in the lining 17 exposing theflange 21 of the side post 19. The base plate 26 is placed in one of theopenings 18 and the welds 33 are made in the slots 29 thus securing thebase plate to the flange 21 of the side post 19.

As stated, the section 30 has a greater thickness than the adjacentportions of the base plate 26 which prevents the end of the lading strap37 from getting caught on the welds 38 when it is being threaded throughthe anchor. This feature is very important because other types ofanchors are forced to use special type fasteners to accomplish thisresult. More specifically, when the lading strap 37 is threaded throughthe anchor the end of the strap is inserted into the recess 27 at oneside of the anchor behind the member and comes into contact with thebase plate adjacent the periphery thereof and the rear edge of member 35passing over the area where the first Weld 38 is located. The insertedend of the lading strap 37 then comes into contact with the face of theraised section 30 and as the lading strap 37 continues to move throughthe anchor the end of the strap slides on this raised section until itslides over the edge of the section. With the strap sliding on the edgeof the section 30, the end of the strap then moves over the area of thesecond weld 38 in spaced relation thereto and comes into contact withthe adjacent sloping portion of the recess 27 at the other side of theanchor. The end of the lading strap gradually slides up this sloppingportion until it goes beyond the periphery of the base plate to completethe threading of the strap through the anchor.

If the member about which a lading strap is threaded has straight sidesa high stress is produced at the edge of the strap when the strap isused at an angle and this high stress causes tearing of the strap. Theare shaped sides of the member 35 causes the maximum stress to be in thecenter of the lading strap 37 and this is so regardless of what anglethe lading strap may be used at. Therefore, the are shaped sides of themember 35 causes the maximum stress to be at the center of the ladingstrap and thus prevents tearing of the strap.

It will be noted that each opening 18 in the lining 17 is centered onthe horizontal joint of two boards 25 to avoid cutting one boardcompletely in two. As stated, each opening 13 is countersunk so as toretain as much of the strength of the board as possible and to avoidadding any extra nailers. The correspondingly shaped 4 periphery of thebase plate 26 urges the boards 25 toward the outside of the car and ineffect the base plate helps hold the lining boards on the car. Theanchor is sub stantially flush with the lining 17 which assures that thelading will not be damaged by the anchor.

Only one side wall of the car is shown in the drawings and only one sidepost is shown in this side wall and four anchors are shown secured tothis side post. In practice, four additional anchors would be secured tothe side post on the opposite side wall of the car opposite the sidepost shown. An anchor of the set of four on one side wall of the carwould be located directly opposite an anchor of the set of four on theother side wall of the car and one end of a lading strap would bethreaded through one of the anchors and the other end of the ladingstrap would be threaded through the other of the anchors. A set of fouranchors would be secured to all of the side posts in both side walls ofa conventional railway box car.

From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been provided a ladingstrap anchor having a raised section to prevent a lading strap fromgetting caught on the means securing the anchor to the car when thestrap is being threaded through the anchor and an anchor member havingare shaped sides causing the maximum stress on the lading strap to be atthe center thereof regardless of the angle at which the strap may bedisposed and thus preventing tearing of the strap.

What is claimed is:

In a railway freight car including a side wall having an outsidesheathing and a lining spaced from the sheathing and provided with anopening therein and a side post disposed between the sheathing and thelining and secured to the sheathing and extending across the opening,alading strap anchor comprising a base plate positioned in the openingin the lining against the post and provided with a recess and a pair ofspaced parallel elongated slots in the bottom of the recess and eachextending substantially the full length thereof and defining a sectionof the base between the slots, the inner bounding wall of each slotbeing formed by the outer side of the section and the outer boundingwall of each slot being formed by the material of the base plateoutwardly beyond the section, the section having greater thickness thanthe material of the plate forming the outer Walls of said slots, amember secured to the base plate in spaced parallelism to said sectionand said slots and having side edges substantially directly overlyingsaid slots along the full length of each, and welds in the slotssecuring the base plate to the post, whereby the base plate and attachedmember may be applied to the post as a unit by welds applied in saidslots and the lading strap may be passed around said member from oneside of the recess to the other, the greater thickness of the sectionbeing adapted to prevent the lading strap from getting caught on theweld in the slot adjacent the other side of the recess while the ladingstrap is being passed through the recess and around the member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,605,719 Smith et a1. Aug. 5, 1952 2,605,721 Johnson et a1. Aug. 5,1952 2,660,130 Johnson Nov. 24, 19 53 2,661,704 Johnson Dec. 8, 19532,675,766 Johnson Apr. 20, 1954

